IDEAL HOME
US, 2018, 91 minutes, Colour.
Steve Coogan, Paul Rudd, Jack Gore, Jake Mc Dormand, Alison Pill.
Directed by Andrew Fleming.
The title sounds like a slogan promoting an estate agent. Is there an ideal home? One of the questions that the title and the film imply. And, more importantly, is there an ideal family?
This is a film, touches of comedy, touches of drama, touches of sentiment, which comes in the wake of discussions and legislation about same-sex marriage and issues of same-sex couples adopting children and bringing them up. Those in favour will respond well to the film. For those not in favour, it is an opportunity to look at a story, listen to real characters, rather than reflect on an abstract concept or a moral question.
The setting is Santa Fe. Audiences will enjoy the scenery in the background. In the foreground, at first, is Erasmus, sitting on a horse, talking to camera – and, eventually we realise that he is being filmed and is advertising. In fact, he is something of a chef, something of a promoter of high life. He is British, did a chef’s course in Oxford, was rather wild in the 1980s, drugs and sexual experimentation. His played by Steve Coogan.
Then we meet his producer, Paul, a bearded Paul Rudd, making him somewhat unrecognisable. He squabbles with Erasmus onset and somebody asks whether they are like that at home. Only worse! The two have been a couple for ten years, depending on each other, arguing with each other.
In the meantime, we have been introduced to a young boy, Angel (later he wants to be called Bill), his father being disturbed by the police in their apartment, getting his son out the window and sending him to Santa Fe to Erasmus. The father goes to jail. We discover Erasmus is his grandfather.
And this is where the ideal home and the not so ideal family come in to play. How do the two men cope with this boy, whose role model has been his criminal father and his addict-mother who fell to her death from a fourth storey window. And what role modelling will Erasmus and Paul offer?
The two men are rather camp in their way and manner. Erasmus could be described as fastidiously, hyper- sensitively self-centred. While Paul is a touch more down-to-earth, he proves himself more capable of being a father than Erasmus does. One of the things about the boy is that he is not one of those cute Americans. He can be very irritating. He also has a passion for Taco Bell – and the film seems at times like and extended commercial for Taco Bell.
Obviously, the two men are going to be challenged in how they relate to the boy and the effect that that has on their own relationship, especially on the cantankerous arguments they have and Paul’s proneness to have panic attacks. And the boy himself is challenged, going to school, eventually making friends. And what about the father? Especially when he is released from jail?
The final credits have a great number of stills of same-sex parents and their adopted children, so Ideal Home is something of a special plea film. When seriously considering same-sex relationships, marriages, same-sex adoption of children, it is important that stances are taken based on experience as well as principles and characters and stories that contribute to the experience.
1. The title? This tradition home, the nuclear family? The different homes in this film, the apartment with the addicted mother and her death? Mansion for the gay men? Becoming the family home with Bill? The final credits and the range of photos of same-sex partners with their adopted children?
2. Audience response, to the gay men, partnership and marriage, adoption? Audience experiences of such situations? Knowing men and women involved in such situations?
3. Santa Fe, the city, the background of the countryside, the mountains? The homes? The ordinary school, hospitals, Taco Bill restaurants? The musical score?
4. The introduction to Erasmus, on the horse, acting, chef, meals? His prissy manner? The introduction to Paul as a producer, the team?
5. Erasmus and his character, his experience in the UK, going to the cooking school in Oxford? The 1980s, drugs, experimentation, sexual encounters, the birth of his son, alienation? His career in the media, celebrity, the fans and their response to him? Celebrity dinners and presiding? Children’s parties?
6. Paul, in himself, in action, the bickering, being with Erasmus for 10 years, his character and manner?
7. The gay men, the camp, the studious, hypersensitive? Gender issues, frankness about sexual behaviour, style? The isolation of the two from the heterosexual community?
8. The boy, his father, the police arriving, let down the window, his father stuck, arrested, his bag, the address? His wandering, arriving, going into the party? His character, not cute? The modelling from his father? Reticence, disliking Angel as a name, choosing Bill? The issue of littering and Paul’s reprimand? His later reprimanding the other boys? His wanting to eat it Taco Bell? His assertiveness and the response of Erasmus and Paul?
9. The opening dinner, going to the room, the men and the decor, sleeping in the car? Going to school, their not knowing his name? The continued visits to Taco Bell – even Erasmus eating there, Paul? The visit to the prison, his father not wanting to see his son?
10. Paul becoming the father figure, practical, taking him to school in picking him up? Erasmus thinking he was the father-figure but his self-centredness?
11. The comedy in the domestic detail, Bill coming to the room? Sexual activity? The meals?
12. The men wanting Bill to make friends, the party, the response of the parents, the cultural style, Indian? Erasmus and his creating other sequences for the television?
13. Bill and his relating to the men, change of heart, school, the church, the Christmas play and his singing and the men’s joyful response?
14. His father out of jail, wanting to take Bill, coming to the house, fleeing during the night?
15. The men, desperate to find Bill?
16. Erasmus and Paul, the domestic situations, the quarrels and bickering, Paul and the offer of a new job, his final exasperation, leaving, the comedy with the car and driving away?
17. Erasmus, his appeal to Paul to come back, their fathering Bill? Going to the court, the custody, the hearing and the decision?
18. And happy family? And the photos of the couples and adoptive children in the final credits?
